"You heard the lady," Peter said, speaking slowly and looking at Dee Dee. "I think you should leave."
"Excuse me, but aren't you a police officer?" Dee Dee asked.
"Yes," Peter replied, "but I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"Are you kidding me? It's your duty to follow this lead! I'm telling you, I heard it straight from the Ouija board that someone living in this house murdered Mary Austin. Aren't you going to do anything about it?"
"Deranged," Mavis muttered. "Totally deranged."
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Peter replied, "but either you leave right now under your own steam or I'm going to have to call some of my friends down at the station and have them help you out. Which is it going to be?"
Dee Dee picked up her purse and walked with dignity toward the hallway. "This isn't the last you've heard from me," she warned over her shoulder. A moment later Peter and Mavis heard the heavy front door open and then slam shut.
"What a nutcase," Peter remarked.
"Hmmm," Mavis replied. "Peter, we've never talked about this before but did you happen to know that Mary Austin person?"
Peter's handsome blue eyes widened. "What are you talking about? I was a teenager twenty years ago."
"So what? Did you live in a bubble or something? You did talk to people even when you were a teenager didn't you?"
"Of course I did."
"Did you know Mary Austin?"
"I think she might have been on my paper route," Peter said. "I'm going to go shower. I worked up a pretty good sweat today."
"You seem to still be sweating," Mavis observed, watching as a small trickle of sweat ran down the side of Peter's face. "Are you nervous about something?"
"Not especially," Peter replied but he could feel the small trickle begin to turn into a minor river. Damn that woman coming over and asking questions about something that happened in another lifetime. Peter had almost convinced himself that what had gone on between Mary Austin and him had never happened. "Did you want to go to the club for dinner tonight?"
"I suppose," Mavis said with a sigh.
"What? You don't want to go to the club? We always go there on Tuesdays."
"Just like we always go to the yacht club on Wednesdays. And Vicky's Secret on Thursdays. I'm getting a little tired of eating out all the time, Peter."
Peter quickly changed the topic because he was suddenly afraid that the next sentence out of Mavis's mouth was going to be: and I'm getting a little tired of you too. He knew she was growing bored with him but he wasn't quite sure what he could do about that.
For a moment, he thought wistfully of his soon-to-be-ex-wife Chelsea. Chelsea had always been agreeable, always wanted to do whatever he wanted to do. And yet he'd been the one to grow bored with her.
Life, Peter thought as he headed upstairs. Wasn't it supposed to get easier at some point?
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